Her godfather was her uncle, Prince Charles, Count of Flanders and her godmother was her future mother-in-law, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg.

[2] The Belgian public extended their enormous sympathies onto the grieving family, with great concern given to the effects their mother's death had on Joséphine-Charlotte and her brothers.

Joséphine-Charlotte initially had a hard time accepting her father's second marriage[2] but later developed a close relationship with her stepmother and called her "Mother".

[2] She and her brothers went through a short period of exodus in France and Spain under the care of Viscount Gatien du Parc just after the German invasion of Belgium.

They and Viscount du Parc travelled to San Sebastián in Spain after her father offered himself as a prisoner of war to Nazi Germany.

[4] On 7 June 1944, the day after the Allied Forces landed in Normandy, France, she and her father were sent to Hirschtein Castle near Dresden, Germany and kept there under house arrest.

[2] On Adolf Hitler's orders, King Leopold III and his family were deported to Strobl, Austria where they were given shelter in a villa.

[2] The Royal Family, which included her brothers Baudouin and Albert, her half-brother Alexandre, and their stepmother Princess Lilian, was freed on 7 May 1945 and settled in Pregny-Chambésy, Switzerland until 1950.

[2] A few months earlier, she had expressed her desire to return to Belgium during the presentation of a gift from the Belgian delegation of the Ladies of the Resistance.

She also visited Bande, Marche and Namur before reaching Brussels, where she stayed at the Royal Palace of Laeken with her grandmother, Queen Elisabeth.

[4] On 13 April 1949, Joséphine-Charlotte visited Lichtervelde and La Panne before returning to Brussels to participate in the Holy Thursday mass in Mechelen.

[3] During their 52-year marriage, the couple had five children:[1] As a Belgian princess, Joséphine-Charlotte brought a wealth of elegance, taste and refinement to her new homeland.

[citation needed] She became a patron and honorary president of l’association pour la protection curative de l’enfance,[4] the Scouts and Guides of Luxembourg,[4] the Equestrian Federation,[4] les Jeunesses musicales,[4] the International Bazaar of Luxembourg and the Hëllef fir kriibskrank Kanner Foundation.

[4] Beside secular organizations, Joséphine-Charlotte supported religious institutions such as Action Catholique des Femmes du Luxembourg (ACFL) of which she became a patron.

In 2003, the exhibition named De Manessier à Wim Delvoye presented 108 works from the private collection of the Grand Duchess at the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg.

[4] The Grand Duchess, who suffered from lung cancer for a long time, died at her home, Fischbach Castle in 2005, at the age of 77.

[citation needed] On 5 December 2016, a remembrance concert in honour of Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte was held in Luxembourg.